Combination safe-desk



Oct. 28, 1924. 1,512,937

' L. KNASTER COMBINATION SAFE DESK Filed May 23. 1923 s sheets sheet l Oct. 28 1924,

1- KNASTER Filed y 23. 1923 i 13.5.- L ill T Tr T NE! W s mo 28, 1924. I 1,512,937 KNASTER COMBINATION SAFE DESK Filed May 23, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 w w L y n U! W W 12 I iI Ill: T355. Z3! HI] I i I Patented Oct, 28, 1924.

owns]: sums isiaasiz LEON KNASTER, or WESTNI-IOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY.

coMniivATIoN sarn-nnsx.

Application filed Ma as, 1923. Serial li'lo. 640,922.

To all mama may] concern: 7 g

' Be it im-own that I, Laos KNAS'I'ER, a citizen of the United States, residing "at West Hoboken, in the county or "Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combination 'SafeDesks, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates primarily to improvements in ofice furniture equipment, and in particular to a, combination safe and desk, the novel characteristics of which reside in the manner in which the H safe feature is embodied in'the construction so es to be'efiectively inaccessible or secret to any one other than those familiar with its location.

i .It is generally meagmzeamn the conventional term of safe, while quite necessary or desirable for oliic'es and other places to afford a safe repository for, valuable 'doc'ument's,moni'es, etc., is nevertheless expensive, unsightly, spaC'e taking, and diiiic'ult to move about, for these reasons it is not infrequentlydispensed with at the risk of loss otvaluables. Furthermore,'where the requirements of equipment make necessary generally a safe of only small capacity, it is not such a difficnlt thing for these small safes to be surreptitiously removed from offices bodily, without attracting any attention, something which it would be quite Cllfilclllt to accomplish with my combination desk'arrangement hereinafter described. 7

For these and similar reasons, it has been mynim in these improvements to provide in a desk of conventional form, as a part of its structure, a safe compartment which is substantially fireproof, burglar-proof and completely hidden from view, soas not to mar the general appearance of the article of furniture, the desk having asec'tion or panel that may readily be moved, fonce the same is'unlocked in order to permit of access I to the safe compartment.

One of the main objects of my invention is to provide. for concealing the locking means coacting with the desk section referred to, whereby said movable section is maintained in place, thus insuring against the tamperingwith the safe compartment by theuniti'ated.

To'this end my invention comprises afs'afe compartment located interiorly of a desk or similarpiece of furniture having a normally locked movable section, and locking means for said section arranged in such concealed position as to require displacement of a drawer of the desk to gain access to said locking means. 1 I

With the above ando'therobjects in view, the invention consists in certain combinations and arrangements of parts as will more fully appear as the description proceeds the novel features thereof being pointed out in the appended claim.

In thefaccompanying drawings forming a part of this specification:

Figure 1 is a, perspective view showing the preferred embodiment of my invention;

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken on a plane passing through the safe compartment of the desk;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the desk with the movable panel displaced to show the secret safe compartment;

Figure 4 is a perspecti've view of the movable desk p'an'el alone;

-Figure V5 is a front elevation of the desk with a portion at one side broken away showing the details of the arrangement of thesafe compartment more clearly;

Figurefi is an enlarged sectional view of that portion of the desk in which the safe compartment is disposed and of the movable panel for concealing this compartment; and

Figure ,7 is a fragmentary sectional view through the panel mounting.

Like reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several figures of the drawings. I

In the carrying out my idea of a combination piece of furniture I have illustrated-the application of the safe element to an office desk, but'it is to be understood that the idea may readily be applied to other similar articles of furniture without in any wise departing from thespiritof the invention.

In the drawing the desk depicted is of the s'ai'iitary form having at each side a pair of drawers, designated 1, 2, 3 and a, respectively. A central drawer 5 is employed and as customary in these desks preferably controls the locking mechanisms coacting with the side drawers, with reference to which looking means, however, no claim is here made to novelty. The desk may have, as in the form illlustrated, a file cabinet section 6 at the rear of the top. Exteriorly it will be apparent, this desk construction is of 'con ventional form and it is primarily'my idea that the construction should be conventional in order to {prevent any suspicion that it has embodied therein a safe compartment which forms the special feature ofthese improvements.

This safe compartment is arranged preferably in rear of the drawers 1 and 2 and at one; side of the desk, said drawers being shorter than the depth of the desk in order to accommodate said compartment. The compartment is in the form of a metallic receptacle and of construction which will render it fireproof as wel-las burglar-proof. Within the compartment is arranged the removable receptacle 8 formed as shown with a plurality of small compartments 9, each having a hinged cover 10 provided with a suitable locking mechanism for looking the same. The face 11 of the receptacle is provided with acombination lock 12 by means of which the removable receptacle 8 isretained within the safe compartment 7. .This safe construction, as will be apparent byreference to Figures 2 and 6, is located in .rear of the side panel 13 of the desk, which panel is made to conform to the side wall construction so as to be complemental in its character to,- prevent attracting notice to the same.

The panel is slidably mounted upon the rail supports 14 shown clearly in Figure 7, and at its rear edge is formed with a tongue 15 which engages in a groove 16 in the adjacent rear leg of the desk, so that it is rigidly and securely mounted in the side wall of the desk. To hold the panel in the normal closed position shown in Figures 1 and 2,1 provide a locking member in the form of a lever 17 pivotally mounted in the partition 18 between the panel and the drawer 1. This lever is provided with a lateral extension or nose 19 which engages with a stop block 20 secured in a longitudinally extending groove 21 of the panel. The

' locking lever is spring pressed and the end opposite to the nose aforesaid extends laterally so as to be accessible for actuation when and only when the drawer 1 has been displaced from the desk. In order, therefore, to release the panel the said drawer 1 must be removed, whereupon the end of the lever 17 is accessible for actuation to disengage its nose from the stop 20. The panel may then be pulled forwardly into the dotted In this extreme position the safe compartment is uncovered and the combination lock 12 may be operated to release the removable receptacle from the compartment 7 rendering the individual compartments 9 accessible when the covers therefor have been unlocked.

It will be at once apparent that normally the desk will show no sign that such a safe is combined in its structure and therefore the compartment is secret in its character and well suited tosafely house either tem rarily or permanently valuable papers, money, or the like. One must be acquainted with the fact that the drawer of the desk must be displaced to, render the locking means for the panel accessible, in order to gain access even to thesafe element.

It will also bev obvious that thissafe compartment may be arranged at either or both sides of the desk, and its size is restricted only by the relative proportions of the desk and its constituent parts.

The advantages of such a construction are numerous but need not be herein particularly recited, as they are obvious from a review of the foregoing description.

The panel 13 may have mountedtherein, as shown in Figure 6, ajspring device23 which assists in the initial displacement of the panel by virture of its coaction with the rear leg. That is tosay, when the panel is closed the plunger 23 is moved inwardly against the expansion spring 23. When the lever 17 is shifted to disengage the nose 19 from the stop 20 the panel is given a slight initial movement by the expansion of the spring 23".. I 1

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is In a combination safe-desk of'the class described, a desk comprising a side wall and havin a slidable panel "forming a compIementa section. of the side wall and movable to open and closed position, a safe compartment in the desk in the rear of said panel and normally concealed thereby, but adapted to be exposed when the panel is moved to member out of cooperation with said panel,

the drawer being adapted to conceal the locking member and to normally cover the said manually operable end of the looking member so that the latter can not be operated until the drawer is removed from the desk to thus render the locking memher accessible for manual actuation, the said panel having a member engageable by the locking member to normally hold the panel in closed position and provided with an additional member engageable by the looking member to cooperate with the latter 10 to limit the opening movement of the panel, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

LEON KNASTER. 

